The General spoke out bravely as ever a General can:―― For once the swell and Private could speak as man to man; And across the lonely desert, at the close of the General’s praise, Came a shout of wonder that the swell could talk to Trooper Blaze. “Speak out,” said the splendid Colonel, “if you’ve anything, lad, to say; Your Queen and your dear old country shall hear what you’ve done to-day!” But the Trooper knawed his chin-strap, and sheepishly hung his head; “Speak out, old man,” said his comrades, and here’s what he should have said―― “There sits on your side by the Staff, sir, a man whom the world has known As not a protector of woman, when one’s by herself alone; And all he’s got he deserves it――the General smiled, “Of course;” And nobody thought the better of the man on the old White Horse! “I’ve fought very well for my pals here, along with the boys and tars, And I have never――no, never――dishonoured the Tenth Hussars; But one has done that for the regiment”――then the Colonel shook his hand―― “So I’ll ask one simple favour from my Queen and my native land!” “If ever a man did wrong, sir, as a thing devoid of pluck, And fought with a poor, weak woman, and trusted then to luck―― That man he sits before you, the hero of railway cars―― Don’t let that man be e’er replaced to d――n the Tenth Hussars!” Then a cheer went up from the regiment, and echoed across the sand, And was borne on the wings of justice to a woman-loving land, When the Queen on her throne will heed it, and the Colonel Prince won’t dare To reinstate a man who tried a lady to ensnare. Let the aristocrats call “mercy,” but let England’s honour live―― There are crimes to be forgotten――there is one we can’t forgive! Valentine Baker, Colonel of the Tenth Hussars, was found guilty of having committed a dastardly attack on a young lady in a railway carriage, sentenced to imprisonment and dismissed from the English army. He subsequently took part in the Campaign, as an officer of the Egyptian government. [Illustration] THE “JINGO” WAR SONG.